


A Lonely Christmas at Leena’s B&B

by cdybedahl



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 08:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17241092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cdybedahl/pseuds/cdybedahl
Summary: While everyone else in the gang goes off to celebrate Christmas with friends and relatives, Myka choses to stay at the B&B to take it easy and read lots of books.





	A Lonely Christmas at Leena’s B&B

**Author's Note:**

> This is a slightly polished version of a story posted on Tumblr as part of the Bering & Wells Holiday Gift Exchange.

“Really, I’ll be fine,” she’d told them. “My parents are on a cruise, so I don’t really have anywhere special to go to. Staying right here at the B&B with a stack of books and a crazy amount of candy will be just fine.”  
“But it’s Christmas,” they’d said. “Myka, you can’t be alone on Christmas!”  
“Sure I can,” she’d told Pete and Claudia and Steve and Leena.  
Not Artie. He’d given her a long look, then nodded.  
“Have an extra mug of nog for me,” he’d said.  
So after she’d assured Pete that she wouldn’t be lonely, Steve that she wouldn’t be sad, Leena that she wouldn’t starve and Claudia that she wouldn’t be bored, one by one they packed up and left for their various destinations. Leaving her with the comfortably creaking house, the December darkness and the softly falling snow.  
She was mostly not lying. Her parents were on a cruise, and the only other person she wanted to spend Christmas with had chosen a life that didn’t include Myka. Taking it easy at home was pretty much ideal, given the circumstances. So once she was alone, she sat down in front of a crackling fire with a large mug of hot cocoa, and started reading the insanely thick multi-volume heroic fantasy epic that she’d had lying around unread for ages.

Several hours later she put the second volume down, and picked up the third. Only to discover that the book she was holding wasn’t number three in the series, it was number four. A brief but frantic search through her book piles didn’t turn up the missing volume. She frowned and tried to think. Why wouldn’t the third volume be in the same pile as the other five? She’d bought all of them at the same time and put them in order on her to-read pile, so it ought to be there.  
She groaned out loud when the answer hit her. The third volume had the cover with the huge dragon hovering threateningly over an armored woman brandishing a sword. The picture she’d used to prove to Pete that fantasy dragons had six limbs. Two wings, and four legs. Which they’d argued about while doing inventory. So she’d brought the book along to the Warehouse, so she could show him. And then, apparently, she’d left it there.  
What to do? Stop reading this series and start on another one? Too unsatisfying. She’d spend the rest of the holidays thinking about the interrupted series. Skip the third book, check the basics of the plot online and go on with book four? Most certainly not! She felt dirty for even thinking about that one.  
She sighed.  
The only real alternative was to pack herself into the car, go down to the Warehouse and fetch the errant volume. It would only take about half an hour, and she hadn’t started on any alcoholic drinks yet.  
“Well, that’s what you get for being stupid,” she told herself.

She was down where the road up to the B&B exited onto the larger road leading into Univille when she saw a strange light. She slowed down to a crawl and tried to see what it was. Strange lights near the Warehouse could be anything.  
Although this time it was something reasonably mundane, at a first look. A car seemed to have slid off the road, and the strange light was the beams from its headlights pointing up at a less usual angle into the slowly falling snow. There was also a person standing at the side of the road. Someone with long, dark hair, a long black coat and from the way they held their hand to the side of their head, making a phone call.  
Myka drove up and stopped in the middle of B&B road. Nobody would be driving there anyway, late on Christmas Eve. She pulled on her thick parka and got out of the car.  
“Hello?” she shouted. “Are you OK?”  
The figure turned to her.  
“Much better now, thank you, Myka” the figure said in a female voice with a very British accent.  
Myka went all cold and hot at the same time. She knew that voice. Very, very well.  
“Helena?” she said.  
She hurried closer. Her first thought was that she’d heard wrong, that it was just some tourist from the UK. Even as she thought it, she knew it couldn’t be. To begin with, a tourist wouldn’t know her name.  
“Ah, yes, it is indeed me,” Helena said.  
Myka could see Helena’s face in the faint reflected light from her car’s headlights. She was smiling. Just the way she used to do, and still did in Myka’s imagination.  
“How…? Why?”  
She stumbled over her words, trying to catch up with her own thoughts.  
“Is there a problem?” she finally said. “Do you need our help?”  
“Well, I’m not getting the car out of the ditch myself, so I’d appreciate a lift to the B&B,” Helena said. “But other than that, I’m fine. Only here for the Christmas thing.”  
“Yes, of course I’ll drive you wherever you need,” Myka said.  
Then she did a double take.  
“Christmas thing? What Christmas thing?”  
Helena’s smile turned slightly unsure.  
“The one Claudia called me about?” she said. “Everyone gathering at the B&B for a Warehouse-agent Christmas?”  
She gestured at the car.  
“I was on my way when I took the turn a little too fast,” she said. “Still not really used to this driving thing. The boot is full of presents for everyone.”  
Myka was getting a suspicion about what was going on.  
“Claudia called you, huh?” she said.  
“Indeed she did.”  
Myka nodded.  
“Let’s get your stuff over into my car,” she said. “We can talk more when we’re out of the snow.”

Of course, once all Helena’s luggage was in Myka’s car and they were driving up to the B&B, Myka had no idea what to say. I miss you like crazy? I hope the life you chose is making you happy? Without me?  
“So how is everyone?” Helena said. “Enjoying the holidays?”  
“I suppose,” Myka said. “They’re all off somewhere else.”  
Helena frowned.  
“What?” she said.  
“Well, you know. Artie’s with his dad, Claudia and Steve went to see Claudia’s brother, and Pete for some reason is spending Christmas with his ex-wife. I’m actually not sure where Leena went.”  
They drove in silence for a little while.  
“So,” Helena finally said. “The only one who’s here is you?”  
“Yep,” Myka said. “No one but boring old me.”  
“You have become boring?” Helena said. “Then things have certainly changed.”  
Myka couldn’t help smiling a little.

“So you brought presents for everyone here,” Myka said.  
They were sitting in front of the re-kindled fire. Myka had made more hot chocolate, this time with rum in it. Making it had taken up some time where she didn’t have to try to think of something to say.  
“Well, after a fashion,” Helena said. “Claudia was very specific about what to buy for whom.”  
“Was she now,” Myka said.  
She sipped her chocolate.  
“You know she set you up, right?” she said.  
“I figured that out, yes,” Helena said. “Although I suspect it’s more of us getting set up than me alone.”  
Myka glanced over at the stack of wrapped packages.  
“So what did she have you buy?” she said.  
“You’re not supposed to open them until tomorrow, I think,” Helena said. “Or at least we didn’t when I wsa a little girl. I think that detail is still the same, yes?”  
“The people they’re for aren’t here,” Myka said. “You can safely tell me what’s in them, even if they don’t get opened until their recipients return.”  
“Right,” Helena said. “Of course.”  
She started counting on her fingers.  
“A big box of Twizzlers for Pete,” she said. “A set of old copies of Astounding Science Fiction magazine with the four original Foundation stories by Isaac Asimov, for Artie. The new model iPad for Claudia. A subscription to The Journal of Forensic Science for Steve. And one gift for you, but you will have to wait to see what that is.”  
Myka couldn’t help smiling.  
“Helena?” she said.  
“Myka?” Helena said.  
“Those are all things I would like.”  
Helena smiled at her over her cup.  
“Now isn’t that a coincidence,” she said.  
“No,” Myka said. “No, it’s not.”  
“Are you hungry?” she added. “There’s a lot of food. Way more than I could ever eat before the others come back. Probably more than the two of us could finish. Leena worried that it might not be enough. And now I’m wondering if Claudia was involved there too.”  
“I could eat,” Helena said. “I had a long drive here and didn’t stop a lot.”

“So where are you and Giselle living these days?” Myka asked while she was preparing a pie for the microwave.  
She felt tense and awkward and everything she said came out wrong. It was like her first teenage crush all over again, except worse, since now she knew perfectly well how stupid she was being.  
“We’re not,” Helena said. “That is, we broke up.”  
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Myka said.  
“Don’t be,” Helena said. “I did the breaking up. Giselle was just… well, we didn’t work together in the long run.”  
“So are you seeing someone else now?”  
The question slipped out before she had time to stop it. Once it was out, she got so nervous that she had to enter the time into the microwave four times before she got it right. In the microwave’s glass door, she could see the reflection of Helena looking at her.  
“No,” Helena said. “I’m currently quite unattached.”  
Myka hit the power button on the microwave and watched as the pie inside it began to rotate. This was getting silly. They were both grownups. And she was quite sure that they both knew perfectly well why Claudia had set them up like this.  
“I’m sure you can find someone any time you like,” she said.  
“I’m not,” Helena said. “You know how it is. When you really want someone, you keep second-guessing yourself. Wondering if they really are showing interest in you, or if it’s just your own wishful thinking.”  
Myka turned around. Her heart was beating at a million miles per hour. It really sounded like Helena was saying that she was afraid to approach Myka. Although, as Helena had just said, Myka thinking so might just be wishful interpretation.  
“Does Claudia know you broke up with Giselle?” Myka asked.  
Helena nodded.  
“It was after I told her that she invited me over for Christmas,” she said.  
“Again, you do realize that she’s trying to set us up,” Myka said.  
Helena nodded again.  
“Indeed she is,” she said. “But she is also very young, and may be engaging in some amount of wishful thinking too.”  
The microwave beeped. Myka ignored it.  
“So,” Helena said, and to her surprise Myka saw that she was fidgeting nervously with a button on her blouse. “What about you? Are you seeing anyone?”  
Myka shook her head.  
“No,” she said. “I’m as single as you can get.”  
“I’m sure you can find someone any time you like,” Helena said.  
“I’m not,” Myka said. “But it doesn’t matter. There’s only been one person I’ve wanted for quite some time now, and that hasn’t worked out.”  
The microwave beeped again. Myka pushed the door-opening button to shut it up, but left the pie where it was.  
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Helena said.  
She sounded uncertain. Unsure. Myka wasn’t sure what to make of that, so she changed the subject.  
“So how long are you staying?”  
“I was planning for a day or two,” Helena said, apparently relieved at the change, “but now I suspect I have to wait until the garage in Univille opens so I can have my car towed and checked out.”  
Terrific, Myka thought. Several days alone with Helena. Her fondest dream and worst nightmare all rolled into one. She took the pie out of the microwave and started setting the table, as a delaying conversation tactic.  
“How long will the rest of the Warehouse team be gone?” Helena asked.  
“Until after New Year’s,” Myka said.  
“You were planning to spend New Year’s Eve all alone?!”  
Helena sounded genuinely upset at that.  
“Sure,” Myka said. “I’m not much of a party person.”  
“Well, we can’t have that,” Helena said. “I’ll be spending it with you, that’s all there is to it.”  
“And then you’ll leave again,” Myka said.  
There ended up being an unsaid “me” after “leave” that was loud enough for both of them to hear it. Helena’s shoulders sank a fraction of an inch.  
“Yes,” she said. “I suppose I will.”  
Myka sat down at the table. Helena followed a moment later. None of them paid any attention to the food. Myka couldn’t look away from the woman across the table. So intelligent, so fascinating, so beautiful. More amazing than anyone else she’d ever met, or even dreamt of meeting. Her heart sank when she thought about spending a whole week with her at arm’s length. Too close to not think about, not close enough to be with.  
Something snapped deep in Myka’s mind.  
“I love you,” she said.  
It may have come out more in the manner of an accusation. Helena abruptly looked away.  
“And I you,” she said.  
Myka stared at her.  
“Then why on Earth did you leave me?” she said. “Why did you stay with that …man, and then with Giselle? If you love me, why did you never come to me?”  
Possibly somewhat louder than intended. Helena still didn’t look at her.  
“You deserve better than me,” Helena said. “And I do not deserve as good as you.”  
Anger and disbelief fought inside Myka. Somehow, both won.  
“That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard you say,” she said.  
That made Helena turn back to her and meet her eyes.  
“I hurt everyone I get close to,” she said. “I do not want to hurt you.”  
“I hurt every moment that you’re not with me,” Myka said. “I hurt every second you are with someone else. You have already betrayed me to try to destroy the world, and you have left me for other lovers, leaving me to despair and wonder why I was not good enough for you while they were. What else do you imagine you could possibly do to me, that would be worse than what you have already done and what you are still doing?”  
Helena looked away again.  
“I’m sorry,” she said.  
“Why did you come here?” Myka asked. “If you don’t want to be close to me, why come to where I live?”  
“Claudia asked,” Helena said. “And it is already so hard to stay away from you. Being asked to come back made it impossible. Also, I did not think it would be just the two of us.”  
Myka fought with her feelings, and after some time managed to calm herself down. Somewhat, at least.  
“So what now?” she said. “Are you going to keep making decisions for me? Decisions that make me miserable? After claiming that you don’t want to hurt me?”  
“When you put it that way,” Helena said, “it does not seem like a reasonable course of action.”  
Myka raised an eyebrow.  
“…and I see now that it may never have been,” Helena continued.  
“So you love me,” Myka said.  
“More so than I have the words to describe,” Helena said.  
“Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you were punishing yourself by staying away from me? That you did because of the whole destroy-everything-around-me-because-I-suck thing that you have going? That all the reasons you just gave me are nothing but excuses to make yourself miserable, and my feeling are only collateral damage to your self-destructive obsessions?”  
Helena started to say something, but stopped before she got the first word out. She tried again, and failed again, and a third time.  
“It has now,” she finally managed to say.  
She looked away from Myka, then back at her, then away again. She bit her lower lip.  
“Myka dear?” she finally said.  
“Yes, Helena?” Myka said.  
“It may be that I have been mind-bogglingly stupid, and that I owe you an enormous amount of apologies.”  
The hard kernel of anger in Myka softened into elation.  
“So what are you going to do about it?” she asked.  
“I’m thinking of begging for forgiveness, as a start,” Helena said.  
“On one condition,” Myka said.  
Helena looked at her, waiting.  
“Never make decisions for me about my life again,” Myka said. “Most of all, never ever again decide to leave me without letting me have a say first.”  
“Absolutely,” Helena said, bowing her head. “I so swear, on my daughter’s grave.”  
“Good,” Myka said. “Then you can start begging.”  
Helena raised an eyebrow at her.  
“On my knees?” she asked.  
“Of course,” Myka said.  
Helena rose from her chair, started to kneel down and then stopped. The shadow of a smile played across her lips.  
“With or without clothes on?” she said.  
Myka couldn’t help but smile at that.  
“Let’s start out with clothes,” she said. “Depending on how well you beg, we may go on from there.”  
“Very well,” Helena said and knelt the rest of the way down.

It was late afternoon on New Year’s Day when Claudia, Pete and Steve returned to the B&B. Claudia carefully opened the front door and listened. Silence.  
“Hello?” she whisper-shouted. “Anyone there?”  
No response.  
“Do you think they killed each other?” Steve said.  
“Nah,” Pete replied. “I have a good vibe.”  
He walked in, and shouted at the top of his lungs.  
“Hey! Sleepy-heads!”  
Moments later, hurried steps came from upstairs. Myka appeared in the staircase, wild-haired and holding a dressing gown shut with one hand.  
“Oh,” she said. “This is today?”  
“It usually is,” Steve said. “Although, well, artifacts, I guess.”  
“Hang on,” Myka said. “We’ll be down in a moment.”

A moment turned out to be closer to half an hour, which gave the three arrivals plenty of time to unpack their car and brew up some coffee. By the time Myka and Helena came downstairs, they were all sitting in the living room chatting.  
“Hey,” Myka said. “Did you all have a nice Christmas?”  
“We did,” Pete said. “And so did you, it looks like.”  
“We did, thank you,” Helena said.  
Myka smiled at her.  
“Much, much better than I expected,” she said. “Thanks to Claudia.”  
Claudia rose from where she’d draped herself over three places on the couch.  
“Here,” she said. “Have a seat. Or seats.”  
Myka sat down.  
“Thanks, but I’d rather stand,” Helena said.  
“So, did anything artifacty happen for you all?” Myka asked, cutting off the start of a question from Steve.  
“Oh, did it ever!” Pete said.  
He launched into a long tale of an artifact record of Christmas carols, while Myka leaned back in the couch with a smug smile. Helena moved up next to her, slowly running her fingers through her hair.

Later that night, Steve leaned in close to Claudia.  
“Can I ask you something?” he whispered.  
They were all gathered in the living room again, just being together and sharing tales of what had happened since last they met. Which was not long at all for most, and quite some time for Helena.  
“Sure,” she whispered back.  
“Why won’t Helena sit down?” he asked. “Also, every time someone offers and she says no Myka gets this really pleased expression.”  
Claudia grinned.  
“You remember how I told you about my cunning plan for those two?”  
He nodded.  
“And how it seems to have worked out fine?”  
He nodded again.  
“And how I gave HG really specific instructions for what presents to buy?”  
Another nod.  
“I thought Myka would want some payback,” Claudia whispered. “Her Christmas present from HG was a pair of handcuffs and a flogger.”  
Her grin grew, somehow, wider.  
“And that, my friend, plus a week of alone time for our two ladies, is why HG doesn’t want to sit down.”

  



End file.
